As an 18-year-old draftee, Arthur Wiknik was rushed through officer candidate's school. After one month in Vietnam he found himself in the middle of the battle of "Hamburger Hill"--one of the most notorious battles of the war.

Related Speeches & Audio (10)

On June 8, 1982, in the first speech by an American president to a meeting of both houses of the British Parliament, President Ronald Reagan presents his hope for a future that would "leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history."

Broadcast from a Pacific coast naval base to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, on July 20, 1944, Franklin D. Roosevelt accepts his party’s nomination for an unprecedented fourth presidential bid and speaks about postwar preparations now that victory is close at hand.

In a live report from the Oval Office, President George H.W. Bush announces the deployment of U.S. armed forces to Saudi Arabia. Troops were sent to the Arab nation to deter further Iraqi aggression after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

On February 27, 1991, five months after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the U.S. and its allies forced Saddam Hussein to withdraw his troops. In a nationally broadcast address, President George Bush calls on Iraq to meet the requirements for a permanent ceasefire.

On November 7, 1972, incumbent President Richard Nixon won a second term in a landslide victory over Democrat George McGovern. In a brief statement from the Oval Office, President Nixon promises to bring "peace with honor" in Vietnam and to usher in a "new era of peace" with the Soviet Union.

In order to suppress growing Soviet influence in the Middle East following the Suez Crisis of 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appears before a joint session of Congress on January 5, 1957, to present a policy that will become known as the Eisenhower Doctrine. It holds that the United States would be authorized to provide military assistance "to secure and protect the territorial integrity" of any nations threatened by international communism.

At a White House ceremony on October 16, 2002, President George W. Bush signs the resolution passed by Congress the previous week to authorize the use of force if Iraq fails to comply with new weapons inspections.

From aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, standing directly under a "Mission Accomplished" banner, President George W. Bush declares, "In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." Bush's claim of victory in what became known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech drew criticism as the war in Iraq continued for several years thereafter.